Sydney
The Australian Government has strengthened its commitment to fighting breast cancer by providing a further $18.5 million to the McGrath Foundation for specialist breast care nurses.
The funding will allow all 44 existing McGrath Breast Care Nurse positions to continue, and expand the program by 10 full-time equivalent places. The new funding will provide approximately 13 new nurses who will support the new Regional Cancer Centres and also provide services in outer metropolitan areas where there is a great unmet need. Eighty five per cent of the current breast care nurses are located in rural and regional areas.Australia has made huge strides in diagnosing and treating breast cancer, with a current five-year relative survival rate of 89 per cent compared to 72 per cent a generation ago. But around 14,000 women who are diagnosed and treated for breast cancer each year still require the best treatment and support we can give them to survive and manage this potentially fatal illness.
Breast care nurses are specially trained registered nurses who act as patient advocates, coordinating care for women with breast cancer, their family and carers.
In doing so, they work to ensure physical, psychological and basic support needs are met.
The breast care nurse program began after the Government committed $12 million to the McGrath Foundation in 2008 for recruitment, training and placement of specialist nurses around Australia. Since the program began, more than 11,900 women with breast cancer and their families have had their burden eased a little by the helping hand of a Government funded McGrath Breast Care Nurse. The Government is very pleased to continue to work with the McGrath Foundation to help Australian women with breast cancer. Breast cancer causes the second largest number of cancer deaths in Australia (behind lung cancer), with 2,864 deaths in 2010. Fighting all types of cancer through prevention, early detection and evidence-based treatment and care remains a key Government priority. Since 2007, the Government has committed an extra $2.5 billion to improve the detection and treatment of cancer, including a record $2 billion in the 2009-10 Budget to build a world-class cancer care system for Australia.